Suspected militant killed in Manipur encounter amid intensified security operations
According to a statement by the Manipur police, the incident had taken place Tuesday.
One AK-47 rifle, along with magazines, ammunition, explosives, and other incriminating items, was recovered after the encounter. (File photo) One person has been killed in an alleged encounter in Churachandpur district amidst heightened operations in Manipur, with security forces stating that the deceased was a “suspected militant.”
According to a statement by the Manipur police, the incident had taken place Tuesday.
“Information was received today from the Assam Rifles that an encounter took place on 16 June between Molphei and Songkong villages involving a joint column of the Assam Rifles and the Army against suspected militants. During this encounter, one suspected militant was killed. One AK-47 rifle, along with magazines, ammunition, explosives, and other incriminating items, was recovered from the spot,” it stated.
Kuki-Zo groups have identified the deceased as Lenminsang Haokip, and have claimed that he was a civilian and have raised allegations of this being a “fake encounter”, which has also been raised by the local MLA Letzamang Haokip, a BJP MLA, who has demanded a “judicial and independent inquiry into the incident, and stringent action against all those found responsible,”
An Assam Rifles official reiterated the Manipur police’s statement.
“There are operations being undertaken that are being done in coordination with all security forces. An investigation is also in progress,” said the official.
Following escalated tensions in the state with the flaring up of a conflict between the state’s Naga and Kuki-Zo communities, the Manipur Police has stated that combined security forces are conducting cordon and search operations in “fringe and vulnerable areas” of Kangpokpi, Churachandpur and Thoubal districts.
“DGP is personally overseeing operations in areas where there has been a spurt of killings and armed activities between communities in recent weeks,” said a police statement.
Later, police said that they recovered eleven 12-bore shotguns, 294 live rounds of ammunition for the guns, 34 empty cases of ammunition and six bullet proof vests in an area, including Leilon Vaiphei, Leilon Khunou, L. Munlio and Konsakhul, which has been the heart of tensions for about a month now. This is the area where six Naga men had been abducted and killed, and where an alleged gunfight had taken place in which three Kuki-Zo men were injured Monday.
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